The animus that has led President Donald Trump to order an end to federal funding of PBS and NPR isn’t new. Public broadcasting has been an irritant to conservatives for a long time.

Conservatives say public broadcasters are biased against them, especially PBS; they are a kind of ground zero for all things “woke”; and they don’t deserve...Read more

Now that the histrionics have calmed — and before California Republicans pick another topic to distort with lies, over-dramatic outrage and public tantrums — it should be said that the California GOP didn’t succeed in anything last week other than showing the dishonesty at the heart of who they are.

Assembly Bill 379 was all the rage (...Read more

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) has been the bogeyman of the right for the better part of four years. The hysteria began with Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “war on wokeness,” which one might have assumed would flame out following his disastrous showing in the 2024 Republican presidential nominee race, fueled in part by voters...Read more

Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker recently gave a speech in New Hampshire that lit up partisan circles thrilled with his fiery and combative tone.

“The reckoning is here,” Pritzker said while issuing a thunderous call for mass mobilization and disruption to counter President Donald Trump’s agenda. He said the American house is on fire,...Read more

Ever since those two mushroom clouds darkened the skies above the fiery hell that was Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the world’s two nuclear superpowers somehow found ways to work together – even in times of intense conflict – to prevent the world from plunging itself into all out nuclear war.

Yet, after 80 years without another nuke being ...Read more

I have just one thing to say about President Donald Trump's proposal to reopen Alcatraz as a prison for ruthless offenders.

What took you so long?

The "Rock," as it has sometimes been referred to, sits uselessly in the middle of the San Francisco Bay, criminally underutilized as a tourist destination. I've been there, and the beauty of the ...Read more

The journey of Bob Prevost of the South Side of Chicago to Pope Leo XIV of the Holy See could not have been foreseen when the new pope was a Chicago kid in the 1960s or when he was a math major at Villanova in the 1970s. Every pope since 1523 — 45 men sitting as successors to St. Peter as bishop of Rome — had been Italians.

But the Church ...Read more

One of the central weaknesses of the Biden administration’s national security policies was its reliance on the concept of “integrated deterrence” to prevent aggressive actions by the People’s Republic of China.

The strategy entailed building robust alliances in the Indo-Pacific, forward-deploying greater numbers of U.S. military assets ...Read more

For decades, we have watched America wrestle with its demons. Sometimes, she has successfully pinned them down. Other times, the demons have slipped beyond her grasp. Yet, America has always remained in the ring. There is no difference right now, and the stakes couldn't be higher.

Across America, from small-town council meetings to state ...Read more

Ever since those two mushroom clouds darkened the skies above the fiery hell that was Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the world’s two nuclear superpowers somehow found ways to work together – even in times of intense conflict – to prevent the world from plunging itself into all out nuclear war.

Yet, although we have gone 80 years without another ...Read more

It has been a painful few months watching federal support for health and human services, museums, libraries, public broadcasting, science, education, diplomacy and environmental protection be intentionally and indiscriminately gutted by President Donald Trump. What’s more troubling is that neither Congress nor the courts have meaningfully ...Read more

Americans have become woefully familiar with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the purveyor of flagrant misinformation about medical treatments. And with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the minimizer of health crises such as the spreading measles outbreak. And with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the antivaccine crusader.

Now let's meet ...Read more

President Donald Trump’s goal of more manufacturing in the United States is laudable. However, the approach of using tariffs as a weapon is reckless and will lead to price hikes and supply chain disruptions and destroy the backbone of America — small businesses.

As a small business owner, I know firsthand the pain of tariffs imposed on ...Read more

The "Newsom for president" bandwagon hit another rut this week.

A new poll by the L.A. Times and UC Berkeley found California's registered voters believe — by a margin of more than 2 to 1 — the state's gallivanting governor is more focused on boosting his chances of winning the White House than fixing the multitude of problems facing him ...Read more

The election of an American pope, Leo XIV, is a fitting culmination of a conclave that had the feel of an American presidential election, except shrouded in secrecy and mercifully brief.

Conservatives and liberals rallied around their favorite candidates, dished dirt on the opposition and adopted slogans (“unity” and “diversity”) aimed...Read more

By all indications, the pharmaceutical industry won’t be spared from tariffs. In April, the Commerce Department took its first step toward imposing levies on drug imports. The goal, according to the White House, is to encourage companies to manufacture in the U.S.

Yet tariffs are unlikely to increase American self-sufficiency anytime soon. ...Read more

Since the early 2000s, governors and legislators from both parties have signed onto a climate agenda in California that is making energy steadily unaffordable.

Gasoline in California, according to AAA, which tracks national gas prices daily, costs an average of about $4.78, compared with $3.16 nationally. The cost of electricity in the state is...Read more

Ahead of Mother’s Day this year, the White House has been exploring various policies to boost America’s low birth rate, including a baby bonus (i.e. government cash transfers at the time of a child’s birth).

This may sound like a strong incentive to have more children, but even though quite a few countries have attempted this (Canada, ...Read more

A family of seagulls — two adults feeding a chick — had gathered by the papal chimney a couple of minutes before white smoke billowed out to announce the election of a new pope. The Holy Spirit is usually represented by a dove, so what to make of this trinity?

In any case, it’s just one small detail in a poignant day. There are already ...Read more

In picking a new leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, the Vatican had a chance to honor the late Pope Francis’ legacy as the greenest pope in modern history. In choosing the American (and Peruvian) Cardinal Robert Prevost — henceforth known as Pope Leo XIV — his fellow cardinals appear to have seized that opportunity. Humanity’...Read more